How to Make Bagpipes Using Latex Gloves and Straws

Charlie Engelman of the educational video channel World by Charlie shows how to make homemade bagpipes using a latex glove and a couple of straws.

I made a homemade musical instrument… bagpipes! All you need are a few craft materials to make this instrument DIY. Homemade instrument ideas are hard to come by – and don’t always work, but this homemade musical instrument is surprisingly effective.

As Engelman is going through the building process, he talks about circular breathing, specifically how wind instrument players like Kenny G use a specific technique to breathe through their nose while simultaneously playing a note with their mouths. He also explains that the bagpipe’s bladder is a shortcut to circular breathing, as it holds air externally while the player breathes.

When Kenny G circular breathes, he traps air in his little jazz mouth that he slowly pushes out with his cheeks while sucking air in through his nose. …it’s absolutely insane a bagpipe kind of works like Kenny G. A bagpipe player continuously fills up an air bladder that’s always full of air and squeezes the bladder which forces air through these tubes which makes sound. The bladder never empties air. It’s always flowing through these tubes so a musical note from a bagpipe could theoretically last forever.

via The Kid Should See This